Wireless home network routing protocol

ABSTRACT

A hierarchical wireless network is provided with a mesh backbone network portion and a switching tree network portion. The mesh backbone network portion includes first tier nodes each having at least one wireless link to another first tier node. The first tier nodes execute a link-state protocol for routing packets. The switching tree network portion includes second tier nodes each having a single wireless link to one first tier node and at least one wireless link to one third tier node, and third tier nodes each having a single wireless link to one second tier node. The second tier and the third tier nodes execute switching rules for switching packets.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application under 35 U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/707,572, now U.S. Pat. No.10,263,885, filed on Sep. 18, 2017 (hereinafter “the '572 Application).The '572 Application is a continuation application under 35 U.S.C. § 120of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/855,386, now U.S. Pat. No.9,781,031, filed on Sep. 16, 2015 (hereinafter “the '386 Application”).The '386 Application is a continuation application under 35 U.S.C. § 120of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/037,403, now U.S. Pat. No.9,148,807, filed on Sep. 26, 2013 (hereinafter “the '403 Application”).The '403 Application is a continuation application under 35 U.S.C. § 120of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/275,299, now U.S. Pat. No.8,559,329, filed on Oct. 17, 2011 (hereinafter “the '299 Application”).The '299 Application is a divisional application under 35 U.S.C. § 121of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/358,258, now U.S. Pat. No.8,064,360, filed on Jan. 23, 2009 (hereinafter “the '258 Application”).The '572 Application, the '386 Application, the '403 Application, the'299 Application, and the '258 Application, including any appendices orattachments thereof, are incorporated by reference herein in theirentireties.

BACKGROUND Description of the Related Art

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in thissection are not prior art to the claims in this application and are notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

Wireless home networks are well known for sharing Internet access andother resources between wireless devices. FIG. 1 illustrates aconventional wireless home network 100 with access to the Internet 102.The wireless home network 100 is centered on a home gateway device suchas a wireless router 104, which has access to the Internet 102. Wirelessdevices 108 such as a desktop computer 108A, a laptop computer 108B, anda personal digital assistant (PDA) 108C, can access the Internet 102through wireless connections (dotted lines in FIG. 1) to the wirelessrouter 104. In addition, the wireless devices 108 can communicate witheach other using an indirect network connection through the wirelessrouter 104.

Furthermore, the wireless devices 108 on the wireless home network 100can communicate with a distant server computer 110 on the Internet 102.The Internet 102 may utilize a variety of possible routing methods, suchas the conventional link-state routing, to send data packets betweennodes A, B, C, and D that form part of the network. For example, to senda file from the desktop computer 108A to the server computer 110, thefile is first broken up into packets of data, and the packets are thensent from the desktop computer 108A to the wireless router 104. Fromthere, the packets travel through the nodes on the Internet 102 using alink-state routing protocol before reaching the server computer 110.

Conventional link-state routing protocols have three components. Firstis weight computation: a network-management system computes a set oflink weights through a periodic and centralized optimization. Second istraffic splitting: each router or node uses the link weights to decidetraffic splitting ratios for every destination among its outgoing links.Third is packet forwarding: each router independently decides whichoutgoing link to forward a packet based only on its destination prefixin order to realize the desired traffic splitting. The popularity oflink-state protocols can be attributed to their ease of management; inparticular, each router's decision on traffic splitting is conductedautonomously without further assistance from the network-managementsystem, and each packet's forwarding decision is made hop-by-hop withoutmemory or end-to-end tunneling.

Such simplicity seems to carry a cost on optimality. In a procedureknown as Traffic Engineering (TE), network operators minimize a convexcost function of the link loads by tuning the link weights to be used bythe routers. With Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), the major variant oflink-state protocol in use today, computing the right link weights isNP-hard, and even the best setting of the weights can deviatesignificantly from optimal TE. However, a new link-state routingprotocol termed Penalizing Exponential Flow-spliTting (PEFT) proved thatit can achieve optimal TE. Link weight computation for PEFT hasdemonstrated to be highly efficient in theory and in practice.

In PEFT, packet forwarding is just the same as OSPF: destination-basedand hop-by-hop. The key difference is in traffic splitting. OSPF splitstraffic evenly among the shortest paths, and PEFT splits traffic alongall paths but penalizes longer paths (i.e., paths with higher sums oflink weights) exponentially. While this is a difference in how linkweights are used in the routers, PEFT also provide a new way ofcalculating link weights. Research has shown that using link weights inthe PEFT way achieves optimal traffic engineering.

The example Internet 102 in FIG. 1 includes nodes A, B, C, and D withlink weights provided between every two nodes. To send packets from nodeA to node D using the OSPF link-state protocol, packets from node A areevenly split between the two shortest paths A-B and A-C, with each pathhaving a link weight of 2. Using the PEFT protocol, the packets fromnode A are split between all paths (A-B, A-C, and A-D), with the longerpath A-D getting less packets as a result of being penalizedexponentially for its higher link weights.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features of the present disclosure will becomemore fully apparent from the following description and appended claims,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding thatthese drawings depict only several embodiments in accordance with thedisclosure and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of itsscope, the disclosure will be described with additional specificity anddetail through use of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional wireless home network with access tothe Internet, where the example Internet utilizes conventionallink-state routing.

FIG. 2A illustrates the wireless devices in a hierarchical wirelessnetwork in one embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2B illustrates a schema of the nodes in the hierarchical wirelessnetwork in one embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary wireless device for implementingembodiments of the hierarchical wireless network in one embodiment ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method executed by a tier A node operating anetwork-management system for implementing a hierarchical wirelessnetwork routing protocol in one embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the data structure for the tier A nodeoperating the network-management system in one embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method executed by a tier A node without thenetwork-management system for implementing the hierarchical wirelessnetwork protocol in one embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the data structure for the tier A nodewithout the network-management system in one embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method executed by a tier B or tier C nodefor implementing the hierarchical wireless network protocol in oneembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates the data structure for the tier B or tier C node inone embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a computer program productimplementing the hierarchical wireless network routing protocol in oneembodiment of the disclosure.

Use of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similaror identical elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless contextdictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in thedetailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting.Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made,without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matterpresented here. It will be readily understood that the aspects of thepresent disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated inthe Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in awide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitlycontemplated and make part of this disclosure.

This disclosure is drawn, inter alia, to methods, apparatus, computerprograms and systems related to a hierarchical wireless home network.

Consumers prefer a home network that is free of wires. With theproliferation of wireless devices in the home environment, ranging fromhome gateways, desktop computers, printers, laptop computers, and PDAs,to almost every electronic device imaginable, an efficient and robustwireless home network is essential to allow these wireless devices tocommunicate with each other. The present disclosure provides a“hierarchical wireless network” that leverages the advantages of somewireless devices, while mitigating the liabilities of other wirelessdevices.

FIG. 2A illustrates the wireless devices in a hierarchical wirelessnetwork 200 in one embodiment of the disclosure. Wireless devices in thehierarchical wireless network 200 are categorized into three tiers ofnodes. Tier A nodes are wireless devices that are typically stationaryand have unlimited power supply. Unlimited power supply can be definedas receiving power from a source other than a battery, e.g., AC powerfrom an electrical outlet. Tier A nodes can include a wireless homegateway device 202, a desktop computer 204, a set-top box 206, and aprinter 208. Home gateway device 202 may be a wireless router, awireless cable modem, a wireless DSL modem, or other similar devicesthat allows the connection of the network 200 to the Internet 222. TierB nodes are wireless devices that are typically stationary andbattery-powered. Tier B nodes can include a stationary laptop computer210 running on battery and a stationary portable media player such as aniPod 212 running on battery. Tier C nodes are wireless devices that aretypically mobile and battery-powered. Tier C nodes can include awireless PDA 214, a cell phone 216, a digital camera 218, and a tabletPC 220. Certain wireless devices, such as a laptop computer, can beclassified as a tier A, B, or C node depending on how the wirelessdevice is used (stationary vs. mobile and AC powered vs. batterypowered).

FIG. 2B illustrates a schema of the nodes in the hierarchical wirelessnetwork 200 in one embodiment of the disclosure. Tier A nodes in thehierarchical wireless network 200 establish and form wirelesspoint-to-point unidirectional or bidirectional links with each other toconstruct a mesh backbone network portion of the hierarchical wirelessnetwork 200. A tier A node can link to more than one other tier A node.Tier A nodes can transmit packets to each other directly, or indirectlythrough one or more other tier A node using a routing protocol. Routingprotocols are commonly used in wired networks, such as in the Internet.Thus, tier A nodes function as routers that forward packets to theirdestination node. Packets can be sent from a source node to adestination node through more than one path. For example, node A2 cansend packets to node A4 through the following paths: A2-A4, A2-A1-A4,A2-A3-A4, A2-A1-A3-A4, and A2-A3-A1-A4. Therefore, if one path suffersfrom interference, or if an intermediate node is down, the packets canbe re-routed to their destination node through a different path. Themesh backbone network can also expand the wireless range of the tier Anodes collectively. For example, the wireless range of a source node maynot reach a destination node directly, but can be reached indirectlythrough other nodes.

A tier B node establishes and forms a wireless point-to-pointunidirectional or bidirectional link with one tier A node, and a tier Cnode establishes and forms a wireless point-to-point unidirectional andbidirectional link with one tier B node or optionally with one tier Anode. As a result, tiers B and C nodes form a tree switching networkportion of the hierarchical wireless network 200 where there is only onepath to each tier B or tier C node. Since tier B and C nodes have alimited power supply and since tier C nodes are mobile, they are notrelied upon to forward packets unless their presence is the only way toreach certain nodes.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, one of the tier A nodes operates anetwork-management system for the hierarchical wireless network 200.Typically, the network-management system resides in a home gatewaydevice with access to the Internet 222, such as the home gateway device202 in FIG. 2A. The network-management system registers the nodes in thenetwork, collects link costs from the nodes, calculates and sends linkweights to the nodes. In addition, the network-management system canreceive route history from the nodes and use the route historyinformation to set routes instead of reconstructing the topology.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, a node can broadcast packets to agroup of nodes, where nodes with similar interests form a group duringthe initiation stage. The broadcast nature of wireless transmissionallows for a physical layer multicast to a group of nodes instead ofmultiple unicasts to individual nodes.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, packets in the network 200 canincorporate one or more bits to mark a packet as important.Battery-powered and mobile wireless devices such as tier B and C nodesoften have small buffers. When the application layer protocol allow,inserting a field relating the importance level of the data into therouting layer packets can protect important packets from being discardedfrom the buffer before less important packets.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary wireless device 300 for implementingembodiments of the hierarchical wireless network. Wireless device 300includes a processor 302, memory 304, and one or more drives 306. Drives306 provide storage of computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, content, and other data for wireless device 300. Drives306 can include an operating system 308, application programs 310,program modules 312, and database 314. Wireless device 300 furtherincludes an input interface 316 through which commands and data may beentered. Input devices connected to the input interface 316 can includean electronic digitizer, a microphone, a keyboard and a pointing device,commonly referred to as a mouse, trackball or touch pad. Other inputdevices may include a joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, orthe like.

These and other input devices can be connected to processor 302 throughthe input interface 316 that is coupled to a system bus 318, but may beconnected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallelport, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). Wireless device 300 mayalso include other peripheral output devices such as speakers and videodisplays which may be connected through an output interface 320 or thelike.

Wireless device 300 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote devices through a network interface322. The remote computer may be another wireless device, a personalcomputer, a server, a router, a network PC, a mobile phone, a peerdevice, or other common network node, and can include many or all of theelements described above relative to wireless device 300. Networkingenvironments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide area networks(WAN), local area networks (LAN), intranets and the Internet. Forexample, in the present application, wireless device 300 may comprisethe source machine from which data is being migrated, and the remotecomputer may comprise the destination machine or vice versa. Note,however, that source and destination machines need not be connected by anetwork 324 or any other means, but instead, data may be migrated viaany media capable of being written by the source platform and read bythe destination platform or platforms. When used in a LAN or WirelessLAN (WLAN) networking environment, wireless device 300 is connected tothe LAN through network interface 322 or an adapter. When used in a WANnetworking environment, wireless device 300 typically includes a modemor other means for establishing communications over the WAN, such as theInternet or network 324. It will be appreciated that other means ofestablishing a communications link between the computers may be used.

According to one embodiment, wireless device 300 is connected in awireless networking environment such that the processor 302 and/orprogram modules 312 can perform hierarchical wireless networking withembodiments herein.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 executed by a tier A nodeoperating a network-management system (e.g., home gateway 202 in FIG.2A) for implementing a wireless network routing protocol in oneembodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the datastructure for the home gateway 202 in one embodiment of the disclosure.The data structure includes ID information 502 of the home gateway 202,such as its IP address, physical (MAC) address, and tier-type.

Referring back to FIG. 4, in step 402, the home gateway 202 establisheswireless point-to-point unidirectional or bidirectional links withnearby devices that are within its radio range. Step 402 is followed bystep 404.

In step 404, the home gateway 202 registers devices that request to joinor rejoin the network 200 as new nodes. In one embodiment, the homegateway 202 periodically broadcasts a beacon identifying its IP addressand its identity as the network-management system. The beacon isforwarded from device to device. Upon receiving the beacon, a new nodesends a registration request directly or indirectly through another nodeto the home gateway 202. Information in the registration request caninclude the new node's physical address and tier-type (tier A, B or C).Alternatively, the home gateway 202 determines the tier-type of the newnode.

In response to the registration request, the home gateway 202 assigns anIP address to the new node and sends the IP address in a reply to thenode. The home gateway 202 stores the new node's IP address, physicaladdress, and tier-type in its list of registered nodes 504 (FIG. 5).Alternatively, the home gateway 202 registers the new node under an IPaddress selected by the node. In that case, the new node first selectsits own IP address and broadcasts the IP address to all the nodes on thenetwork 200. If the IP address conflicts with an existing node on thenetwork 200, the new node would select a different address (e.g.,increment the address by one) and broadcast the address to the networkagain. The new node would repeat this step until it has selected an IPaddress that does not conflict with another node on the network 200.

In one embodiment, the home gateway 202 can also register the new nodeto a group 506 (FIG. 5) of nodes that share a common interest. Forexample, network 200 may include a group of nodes that share an interestin the latest weather forecasts, stock prices, or sporting news andscores. The home gateway 202 can provide information about the group tothe new node, and add the new node to the group's membership list andprovide the membership list to the node at the request of the node. Thehome gateway 202 can also create a new group at the request of the newnode or join any group itself. Step 404 is followed by step 406.

In step 406, the home gateway 202 determines its neighboring nodes.Neighboring (or neighbor) nodes are nodes that have a wirelesspoint-to-point unidirectional or bidirectional link to the home gateway202. Any technique can be used to determine the neighboring nodes. Inone embodiment, the home gateway 202 broadcasts a “HELLO” messagecontaining its IP address, physical address, and tier-type to theneighboring nodes. The neighboring nodes that receive the HELLO messageeach sends a reply containing its IP address, physical address, andtier-type to the home gateway 202, acknowledging receipt of the HELLOmessage. The home gateway 202 then updates its list of neighbor nodes508 (FIG. 5) with this information. Step 406 is followed by step 408.

In step 408, the home gateway 202 measures the costs of the links to itstier A neighbors. Any technique can be used to assign the link cost. Inone embodiment, the home gateway 202 measures the link cost by sendingan “ECHO” message to a tier A neighbor. Upon receiving the ECHO message,the tier A neighbor node sends a reply to the home gateway 202. The homegateway 202 then sets the link cost equal to the round-trip time it tookto send the ECHO message and receive the reply divided by two. The homegateway 202 also measures the radio characteristics of the links to itstier A neighbors, such as fading levels (v). The home gateway 202 storesthis information in its list of tier A links 510 (FIG. 5), where eachlink is identified by its tier A neighbor's IP address and physicaladdress. Step 408 is followed by step 410.

In step 410, the home gateway 202 floods the network 200 with its linkstate advertisement (LSA). The LSA identifies the originating node andits neighboring nodes by IP and physical addresses (neighboringrelationships). The home gateway 202 also receives LSAs 512 (FIG. 5)from the other nodes in the network 200. The LSAs 512 from the othernodes also include the link costs to their tier A neighboring nodes.

In one alternative embodiment, the home gateway 202 does not flood thenetwork 200 with its LSA but sends the neighboring relationships of allthe tier A node devices along with the link weights to the tier A nodedevices in step 416. This alternative embodiment is described later withstep 416 for the home gateway 202 and steps 610 and 612 for the othertier A node devices. Step 410 is followed by step 412.

In step 412, the home gateway 202 determines the topology of the network200. The home gateway 202 first constructs the topology of the tier Amesh backbone network from the neighboring relationships of the tier Anodes. Any technique can be used to construct the topology of the tier Amesh backbone network. The home gateway 202 then centrally organizes thetier B and tier C nodes into a tree structure to complete the topologyof the network 200. Alternatively, the tier B and the tier C nodesorganize themselves into a tree structure in a distributed manner andinform the home gateway 202 of their neighboring relationships. Ineither case, any centralized or distributed technique can be to organizethe tier B and tier C nodes into a tree structure. Typically the treestructure links a tier B node to the tier A node with whom it has thestrongest signal.

In one embodiment, the LSA from a tier B or a tier C node furtherincludes the route history 514 (FIG. 5) of the node. The route history514 includes the switching rules used by the node for implementing thetree structure and the times and the days they were used. The homegateway 202 optionally uses the saved switching rules for a node whenthat node reregisters instead of reconstructing the tree structure eachtime that node reregisters with the home gateway. Step 412 is followedby step 414.

In step 414, the home gateway 202 calculates and optimizes the linkweights (w) using a routing protocol based on the link costs. Therouting protocol may be PEFT, a predecessor of PEFT called DEFT(Distributed Exponentially-weighted Flow spliTting), OSFP, or anotherrouting protocol. The home gateway 202 stores a table 516 (FIG. 5) oflink weights (w), where each link is identified by the source anddestination nodes. Step 414 is followed by step 416.

In step 416, the home gateway 202 sends the table 516 of link weights(w) and the tree structure of the tier B and tier C nodes to each of thetier A nodes. Instead of the tree structure of the tier B and tier Cnodes, the home gateway 202 can send the knowledge of which node B topush a packet destined for each of the tier C nodes (without knowing howtier B nodes forward the packet). Each tier A node constructs thetopology of network 200 and computes a routing table based on the linkweights (w). When the home gateway 202 centrally determines the treestructure of the tier B and tier C nodes, the home gateway also sendsthe tree structure to each of the tier B and the tier C nodes. Each tierB node uses the tree structure to form the switching rules that definethe ingress link from a parent node and the egress links to child nodes.Each tier C node uses the tree structure to form the switching rule thatdefines the ingress link to a parent node.

In the alternative embodiment introduced in step 410 and described laterin steps 610 and 612 for the other tier A node devices, the home gateway202 also sends the neighboring relationships of all the tier A nodedevices along with the link weights (w) so the other tier A node devicescan determine the topology of the network 200. Step 416 is followed bystep 418.

In step 418, the home gateway 202 computes a routing table 518 using therouting protocol from step 414 based on the topology of the network 200.The routing table 518 defines the next hops for every destination, andthe traffic splitting ratios between the next hops. In one embodiment,the home gateway 202 adds the fading levels (v) of its tier A links 510(FIG. 5) to the corresponding link weights (w) so that a noisy wirelesslink is given a higher weight. Step 418 is followed by step 420.

In step 420, the home gateway 202 process packets. For incoming packets,the home gateway 202 determines if it is the destination node based onthe destination IP address in the packets. When it is not thedestination node, the home gateway 202 looks up the destination node inthe routing table 514 and splits the packets among the next hops toachieve the desired traffic splitting ratios. A similarly process isused when tier the home gateway 202 sends packets.

As described above, the network 200 may have groups of nodes that shareinterest in common information. Assuming it is a member of such a group,the home gateway 202 can multicast information to multiple recipientsinstead of unicasting the same information to multiple recipients. Thehome gateway 202 can also receive a multicast of information fromanother member of the group. This feature allows the nodes to takeadvantage of the wireless transmission medium and protocol to sendinformation to multiple nodes simultaneously. Step 420 is followed bystep 422.

In step 422, the home gateway 202 determines whether any of the links toits neighbor nodes is down. The home gateway 202 does this byperiodically transmitting probes (e.g., HELLO messages) to the neighbornodes. When a neighbor node does not respond, the home gateway 202assumes the link has failed. The home gateway 202 also determines if itreceives a message from a tier B or tier C node device indicating thatone of its links is down as described later in step 826 and 828 for atier B or tier C node device. If any of its links is down, step 422loops back to step 410 so all the tier A nodes can reconstruct theirrouting tables to compensate for the failed link. If its links are up,then step 422 is followed by step 424.

In step 424, the home gateway 202 determines if a new node has appearedand requests to register with the home gateway 202 to join the network200. If so, step 424 loops back to step 404. Otherwise step 424 loopsback to step 420 where it continues to process packets.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method 600 executed by eachnon-network-management system tier A node (e.g., devices 204 in FIG. 2A)for implementing the wireless network routing protocol in one embodimentof the disclosure. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the data structure forthe tier A node device 204 in one embodiment of the disclosure. The datastructure includes ID information 702 of the device 204, such as its IPaddress, physical (MAC) address, and tier-type.

Referring back to FIG. 6, in step 602, the tier A node device 204establishes wireless point-to-point unidirectional or bidirectionallinks with nodes in the network 200 that are within its radio range.Step 602 is followed by step 604.

In step 604, the tier A node device 204 registers with thenetwork-management system (e.g., home gateway 202) to join the network200 as a new node as described above in step 404 for the home gateway202. The tier A node device 204 can also join a group of nodes thatshare a common interest through the home gateway 202 and receive themembership list of the group 704 (FIG. 7) as described above in step404. Step 604 is followed by step 606.

In step 606, the tier A node device 204 determines its neighboring nodes706 (FIG. 7). This step is the substantially the same as step 406described above for home gateway 202 and therefore is not furtherelaborated. Step 606 is followed by step 608.

In step 608, the tier A node device 204 measures the costs and the radiocharacteristics, such as fading levels (v), of the links 708 (FIG. 7) toits tier A neighbors. This step is the substantially the same as step408 described above and therefore is not further elaborated. Step 608 isfollowed by step 610.

In step 610, the tier A node device 204 floods the network 200 with itsLSA. Similarly, the tier A node device 204 receives LSAs 710 (FIG. 7)from the other nodes in the network 200. The LSAs 710 are used by eachtier A node to construct the topology of the network 200. This is thesubstantially the same as step 410 described above and therefore is notfurther elaborated.

In the alternative embodiment introduced above in steps 410 and 416 forthe home gateway 202, each tier A node device sends its LSA to the homegateway 202 instead of flooding the network 200 with its LSA. Step 610is followed by step 612.

In step 612, the tier A node device 204 receives link weights (w) andthe tree structure for the tier B and tier C nodes from the home gateway202 and stores it in a table 712 (FIG. 7). Instead of the tree structureof the tier B and tier C nodes, the home gateway 202 can send theknowledge of which node B to push a packet destined for each of the tierC nodes (without knowing how tier B nodes forward the packet). In thealternative embodiment where each tier A node device sends its LSA tothe home gateway 202 instead of flooding the network 200 with its LSA,the home gateway also now sends the neighboring relationships of all thetier A node devices. This step corresponds to step 416 described above.Step 612 is followed by step 614.

In step 614, the tier A node device 204 constructs the topology of thenetwork 200 based on the neighboring relationships and the treestructure for the tier B and tier C nodes. Any technique can be used toconstruct the topology of the network 200. Step 614 is followed by step616.

In step 616, the tier A node device 204 computes a routing table 714using a routing protocol from the topology of the network 200. Therouting protocol may be PEFT, DEFT, OSFP, or another routing protocol.The routing table 714 defines the next hops for every destination, andthe traffic splitting ratios between the next hops. In one embodiment,the tier A node device 204 adds the fading levels (v) of its tier Alinks 708 to the corresponding link weights (w) so that a noisy wirelesslink is given a higher weight. Other alternative routing protocols, suchas OSPF, can be used to compute the routing table 714. Step 616 isfollowed by step 618.

In step 618, the tier A node device 204 processes packets. For incomingpackets, the tier A node device 204 determines if it is the destinationnode based on the destination IP address in the packets. When it is notthe destination node, the tier A node device 204 looks up thedestination node in the routing table 714 and splits the packets amongthe next hops to achieve the desired traffic splitting ratios. A similarprocess is used when tier A node device 204 sends packets.

As described above, the network 200 may have groups of nodes that shareinterest in common information. Assuming it is a member of such a group,the tier A node device 204 can multicast information to multiplerecipients instead of unicasting the same information to multiplerecipients. The tier A node device 204 can also receive the multicast ofinformation from another member of the group. Step 618 is followed bystep 620.

In step 620, the tier A node device 204 determines whether any of thelinks to its neighboring nodes is down. This step is the substantiallythe same as step 422 described above and therefore is not furtherelaborated. If any of its links is down, step 620 loops back to step 610so all the tier A nodes can reconstruct their routing tables tocompensate for the failed link. If its links are up, then step 620 isfollowed by step 622.

In step 622, the tier A node device 204 determines if a new node hasappeared in network 200. The tier A node device 204 knows a new node hasappeared when it receives the LSA from the node. If so, step 622 loopsback to step 610 so all the tier A nodes can reconstruct their routingtables to include the new node. Otherwise step 622 loops back to step618 where it continues to send or forward packets.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method 800 executed by each of the tier B andtier C nodes (e.g., tier B node device 210) in one embodiment of thedisclosure. FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the data structure for the tierB node device 210 in one embodiment of the disclosure. The tier B nodedevice 210 has ID information 902 such as its IP address, physical (MAC)address, and tier-type.

Referring back to FIG. 8, in step 802, the tier B node device 210establishes wireless point-to-point unidirectional or bidirectionallinks with nodes in the network 200 that are within the range of itsradio. Step 802 is followed by step 804.

In step 804, the tier B node device 210 registers with the home gateway202 to join the network 200 as a new node in the same way a tier A nodewould in step 604. Step 804 is followed by step 806.

In step 806, the tier B node device 210 determines its neighboring nodes904 (FIG. 9) in the same way a tier A node would in step 606. Step 806is followed by step 808.

In step 808, the tier B node device 210 floods the network 200 with itsLSA in a similar way as a tier A node would in step 608. However, theLSA may further include the routing history 906 (FIG. 9) of the tier Bnode device 210. The routing history 916 includes the switching rulesbased on times and days the rules are used. In the alternativeembodiment introduced in steps 410 and 416 for the home gateway 202 andsteps 610 and 612 for other tier A node devices, the tier B node device210 only sends its LSA to the home gateway 202. Step 808 is followed bystep 810.

In step 810, the tier B node device 210 receives the tree structure forthe tier B and tier C nodes from the home gateway 202. Alternatively,the tier B node device 210 and the other tier B and tier C node devicesform the tree structure themselves in a distributed manner. This stepcorresponds to step 416 described above. Step 810 is followed by step812.

In step 812, the tier B node device 210 constructs the switching rules908 (FIG. 9) based on the tree structure for the tier B and tier Cnodes. Any technique can be used to construct the switching rules 914.For a tier B node, the switching rules define the ingress link from aparent node and the egress links to child nodes where the nodes areidentified by their IP addresses. For a tier C node, the switching rulesdefine the ingress link. Step 812 is followed by step 814.

In step 814, the tier B node device 210 processes packets. For incomingpackets, the tier B node device 210 determines if it is the destinationnode based on the destination IP address in the packets. When it is notthe destination node, the tier B node device 210 sends the packets toits ingress or egress nodes based on the switching rules and thedestination IP addresses in the packets. A similar process is used whentier B node device 210 sends packets. Tier B node device 210 stores therouting history 906 of the switching rules based on time and day.

As described above, the network 200 may have groups of nodes that shareinterest in common information. Assuming it is a member of such a group,the tier B node device 210 can multicast information to multiplerecipients instead of unicasting the same information to multiplerecipients. The tier B node device 210 can also receive the multicast ofinformation from another member of the group. Step 814 is followed bystep 816.

In step 816, the tier B node device 210 determines if its receive bufferhas room to store incoming packets (e.g., if the buffer size is lessthan a threshold size). If the receive buffer has enough space to storethe incoming packets, step 816 is followed by step 824. If the bufferdoes not have enough room to store the incoming packets, step 816 isfollowed by step 818.

In step 818, the tier B node device 210 selects the oldest packet in thereceive buffer and determines whether the selected packet is marked asimportant (e.g., marked true in the one-bit important bit). If theselected packet is marked as important, step 818 is followed by step820. If the selected packet is not marked as important, step 818 isfollowed by step 822.

In step 820, the tier B node device 210 selects the next oldest packetin the buffer. Step 820 loops back to step 818 where the tier B nodedevice 210 determines whether the next oldest packet is markedimportant.

In step 822, the tier B node device 210 discards the selectedunimportant packet. Step 822 loops back to step 816 where the tier Bnode device 210 again determines whether there is enough room to storethe incoming packets. Steps 816 to 822 are repeated until enoughunimportant old packets are discarded from the buffer to store theincoming packets.

In step 824, the tier B node device 210 stores the incoming packets inthe receive buffer. Step 824 is followed by step 826.

In step 826, the tier B node device 210 determines whether any of theegress links is down the same way a tier A node would in step 620. Ifany of its egress links is down, step 826 is followed by step 828.Otherwise, step 826 is followed by step 830.

In step 828, the tier B node device 210 informs the parent node at theend of its ingress link and the home gateway 202 of the failed link.This process, also referred to as the “backpressure method,” allows theparent node to perform a fast real time reroute and the home gateway 202to keep a log of failure for offline data analysis. Step 828 loops backto step 810 where the tier B node device 210 receives a new treestructure from the home gateway 202 that compensates for the failedlink. Alternatively, the tier B node device 210 and the other tier B andtier C node devices form a new tree structure themselves in adistributed manner that compensates for the failed link and provides thenew tree structure to the home gateway 202.

In step 830, the tier B node device 210 determines if a new node hasappeared in network 200 that affects the tree structure of the tier Band the tier C nodes. The tier B node device 210 knows such a new nodehas appeared when it receives a new tree structure from the home gateway202. If so, step 830 loops back to step 810 so it can reconstruct itsrouting tables. Otherwise step 830 loops back to step 814 where itcontinues to send or forward packets.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a computer program product 1000of the hierarchical wireless network in one embodiment of thedisclosure. Computer program product 1000 includes one or more sets ofinstructions 1002 that are configured to perform a disclosed task.Computer program product 1000 may be transmitted in a signal bearingmedium 1004 or another similar communication medium 1006. Computerprogram product 1000 may be recorded in a computer readable medium 1008or another similar recordable medium 1010.

There is little distinction left between hardware and softwareimplementations of aspects of systems; the use of hardware or softwareis generally (but not always, in that in certain contexts the choicebetween hardware and software can become significant) a design choicerepresenting cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs. There are various vehiclesby which processes and/or systems and/or other technologies describedherein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware), andthat the preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which theprocesses and/or systems and/or other technologies are deployed. Forexample, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy areparamount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and/or firmwarevehicle; if flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for amainly software implementation; or, yet again alternatively, theimplementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and/orfirmware.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts,and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will beunderstood by those within the art that each function and/or operationwithin such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment,several portions of the subject matter described herein may beimplemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), orother integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art willrecognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, inwhole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integratedcircuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or morecomputers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computersystems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors(e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors),as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designingthe circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and/or firmwarewould be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light ofthis disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capableof being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, andthat an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described hereinapplies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium usedto actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearingmedium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable typemedium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive (HDD), a Compact Disc(CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape, a computer memory,etc.; and a transmission type medium such as a digital and/or an analogcommunication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wiredcommunication link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such describeddevices and/or processes into data processing systems. That is, at leasta portion of the devices and/or processes described herein can beintegrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount ofexperimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that atypical data processing system generally includes one or more of asystem unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatileand non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one ormore interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and/or controlsystems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback forsensing position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/oradjusting components and/or quantities). A typical data processingsystem may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially availablecomponents, such as those typically found in datacomputing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interactingcomponents and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactablecomponents.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such anintent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence ofsuch recitation, no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general,such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where aconvention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, ingeneral, such a construction is intended in the sense one having skillin the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having atleast one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systemsthat have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together,B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes ofillustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scopeand spirit being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hierarchical wireless network, comprising: amesh backbone network portion that comprises a plurality of first tiernodes, wherein at least one of the plurality of first tier nodesincludes a gateway device that is operable to connect the hierarchicalwireless network to an internet, and wherein the gateway device isconfigured to establish wireless point-to-point links with other nodesof the plurality of first tier nodes; and a tree switching networkportion, comprising: one or more second tier nodes; and one or morethird tier nodes, wherein: at least one of the one or more second tiernodes is operable to exchange packets with one of the plurality of firsttier nodes, at least one of the one or more second tier nodes isoperable to exchange packets with at least one of the one or more thirdtier nodes, and at least one of the one or more third tier nodes isoperable to exchange packets with one of the one or more second tiernodes.
 2. The hierarchical wireless network of claim 1, wherein theplurality of first tier nodes includes stationary devices.
 3. Thehierarchical wireless network of claim 1, wherein the one or more secondtier nodes include one or more stationary devices.
 4. The hierarchicalwireless network of claim 1, wherein the one or more third tier nodesinclude one or more mobile devices.
 5. The hierarchical wireless networkof claim 1, wherein the plurality of first tier nodes are operable toreceive power from an alternating current (AC) source.
 6. Thehierarchical wireless network of claim 1, wherein the one or more secondtier nodes and the one or more third tier nodes are operable to receivepower from respective batteries.
 7. The hierarchical wireless network ofclaim 1, wherein each of the plurality of first tier nodes is operableto execute a link-state protocol to route packets.
 8. The hierarchicalwireless network of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more second tiernodes and each of the one or more third tier nodes are operable toexecute switching rules to switch packets.
 9. The hierarchical wirelessnetwork of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more second tier nodes isoperable to: exchange packets with the one of the plurality of firsttier nodes; and exchange packets with the at least one of the one ormore third tier nodes.
 10. The hierarchical wireless network of claim 1,wherein the gateway device is configured to receive a registrationrequest from a new node, wherein the registration request includes arequest to join the hierarchical wireless network, and wherein theregistration request includes information indicative of a physicaladdress of the new node, and a tier-type of the new node.
 11. A methodto establish a hierarchical wireless network, the method comprising:establishing a mesh backbone network portion of the hierarchicalwireless network, wherein establishing the mesh backbone network portioncomprises providing a plurality of first tier nodes, wherein at leastone of the plurality of first tier nodes includes a gateway device thatis operable to connect the hierarchical wireless network to an internet,and wherein the gateway device is configured to establish wirelesspoint-to-point links with other nodes of the plurality of first tiernodes; and establishing a tree switching network portion of thehierarchical wireless network, wherein establishing the tree switchingnetwork portion of the hierarchical wireless network comprises:providing one or more second tier nodes; and providing one or more thirdtier nodes, wherein: at least one of the one or more second tier nodesis operable to exchange packets with one of the plurality of first tiernodes, at least one of the one or more second tier nodes is operable toexchange packets with at least one of the one or more third tier nodes,and at least one of the one or more third tier nodes is operable toexchange packets with one of the one or more second tier nodes.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the plurality of first tier nodes have adifferent mobility than the one or more second tier nodes and the one ormore third tier nodes.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein providing theone or more third tier nodes comprises providing the one or more thirdtier nodes with operability from a same type of power supply as the oneor more second tier nodes.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein providingthe plurality of first tier nodes comprises providing a node, among theplurality of first tier nodes, which is operable to operate as a networkmanagement node of the hierarchical wireless network.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein to operate as the network management node of thehierarchical wireless network, the node of the plurality of first tiernodes is operable to: discover neighbor nodes; determine a topology ofthe mesh backbone network portion based on the neighbor nodes; organizethe one or more second tier nodes and the one or more third tier nodesinto a tree structure; determine a topology of the hierarchical wirelessnetwork based on the topology of the mesh backbone network portion, andthe tree structure; compute a routing table based on the topology of thehierarchical wireless network; and use the routing table to processincoming packets.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein to operate as thenetwork management node of the hierarchical wireless network, the nodeof the plurality of first tier nodes is further operable to: determinethat one of the nodes in the hierarchical wireless network has failed;and reconstruct the routing table based on the determination.
 17. Themethod claim 11, wherein at least one of the one or more second tiernodes, and at least one of the one or more third tier nodes are operableto: receive a tree structure of the one or more second tier nodes andthe one or more third tier nodes from a network management node;construct switching rules based on the tree structure, wherein theswitching rules define an ingress link from a parent node, and one ormore egress links to one or more child nodes; and process incomingpackets based on the switching rules.
 18. A method to establish ahierarchical wireless network, the method comprising: establishing amesh backbone network portion of the hierarchical wireless network,wherein establishing the mesh backbone network portion comprisesproviding a plurality of first tier nodes, wherein at least one of theplurality of first tier nodes includes a gateway device that is operableto connect the hierarchical wireless network to an internet, and whereinthe gateway device is configured to establish point-to-point wirelesslinks with other nodes of the plurality of first tier nodes; andestablishing a tree switching network portion of the hierarchicalwireless network, wherein establishing the tree switching networkportion of the hierarchical wireless network comprises: providing one ormore second tier nodes; and providing one or more third tier nodes,wherein: at least one of the one or more second tier nodes is operableto establish a single wireless link to one of the plurality of firsttier nodes, at least one of the one or more second tier nodes isoperable to establish at least one wireless link to at least one of theone or more third tier nodes, and at least one of the one or more thirdtier nodes is operable to establish a single wireless link to one of theone or more second tier nodes.
 19. The method of claim 18, whereinestablishing the tree switching network portion comprises organizing theone or more second tier nodes and the one or more third tier nodes intoa tree structure.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least oneof the plurality of first tier nodes is operable to execute a link-stateprotocol to route packets, and wherein at least one of the one or moresecond tier nodes and at least one of the one or more third tier nodesare operable to execute switching rules to switch packets.